


the best things in life are free

by nightswatch



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4456493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bahorel has a great idea. It involves Grantaire and free hugs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the best things in life are free

**Author's Note:**

> For [deadpokerface](http://deadpokerface.tumblr.com/) who added some really cool stuff to my headcanon.

Courfeyrac: _I hate this and I know that it’ll all be over in a couple of hours but I’m so scared of this exam_

Courfeyrac: _I just want to be done like everyone else_

Courfeyrac: _:(((_

Courfeyrac: _I need a hug_

Grantaire: _I’ll give you a hug when you’re done I promise_

Courfeyrac: _if you’re not waiting for me outside the building after my exam I will be really disappointed and I’ll probably also cry_

Courfeyrac: _I’ll be done at 3_

“What are you smiling about?” Bahorel asked and set down a plate full of pancakes in front of Grantaire’s nose. “Are you texting Enjolras again?”

“No, it’s Courfeyrac,” Grantaire said. He decided to ignore the comment about Enjolras, because Bahorel had actually only caught him texting Enjolras one time. Enjolras had happened to be a lot more pleasant than he usually was when he had to interact with Grantaire, so they’d sent messages back and forth for a while and apparently Grantaire had had a rather silly smile on his face. Bahorel had taken pictures.

“Is he still moping about that exam?”

Grantaire nodded and handed over his phone so Bahorel could read Courfeyrac’s texts. “Guess I’ll have to head out later to give Courfeyrac that hug,” Grantaire mused as he poured a generous amount of syrup over his pancakes.

Bahorel hummed and put down his phone with a broad grin on his face. “You know what,” he said, “I just had a great idea.”

* * *

“This is ridiculous,” Grantaire said. “We look ridiculous.” Some people might say that they had too much time on their hands and they’d be right, but as ridiculous as this was, it really was a great idea.

“Hey, we’re on a mission to make a lot of people happy.” It was hilarious how excited Bahorel was about this. “Nothing about this is ridiculous. Everyone loves hugs, especially when you’ve spent hours at the library studying, or when you’re scared of exams or even when you’re super happy because you’re done with everything.”

Grantaire snorted. “Okay, okay. It’s not like you have to convince me or anything.” He was here already and he had a _FREE HUGS_ sign pinned to his shirt. He’d painted a couple of suns and flowers and hearts on them and they actually didn’t look all that bad.

“Alright,” Bahorel said, looking around the mostly deserted campus square, “let’s do this.”

“Yeah, and let’s hope that more people show up.” Most students were probably at the library or writing exams right now and it was before noon, so chances were that a lot of them actually hadn’t even crawled out of bed yet if they didn’t have anything too urgent to do. “Let’s also hope they actually want to hug us.”

Bahorel gave him a pat on the back. “Come on, we’re the most huggable people on the planet, _everyone_ should want to hug us.”

As it soon turned out, people really did want to hug them. People laden with heavy book bags, people carrying coffee, people who looked like they hadn’t slept in a week, they all smiled when they saw them. And most of them seemed to really have needed that hug.

Joly walked by on his way to the library and got a hug from both of them, Cosette demanded a hug sandwich when she came by, and Combeferre even brought them each a coffee because Joly had told him that they were here. They really should have tried to get Combeferre to join them – Combeferre was one of the best huggers on the planet and he would have made a fantastic addition to their team.

Grantaire could almost tell around what time exams were about to start because there were considerably fewer people out and about.

Bahorel was still smiling broadly, even when there was no one around for him to hug. “They love us.”

“They _so_ do,” Grantaire said. This was a lot of fun, actually. And he definitely wouldn’t get bored doing this until Courfeyrac finished his exam.

Well, at least that was what Grantaire thought until Enjolras turned the corner all of a sudden. Grantaire knew that he was probably on his way to the library; he’d said something about a paper that he needed to finish after their last meeting. He should have expected Enjolras to show up at some point.

Enjolras stopped in his tracks, staring at Grantaire and Bahorel, quite obviously confused. There was a chance that he wasn’t too happy with them since they weren’t doing anything useful, like distributing flyers or talking people into signing one of their petitions. Enjolras tilted his head, frowning at them. It was starting to get a little weird, to be honest. He just stood there, looking at them with those fierce blue eyes, silently judging them. And Grantaire was staring right back at him because he wasn’t sure what else to do.

“Aw, look who it is,” Bahorel finally said and gave Grantaire a gentle shove, “I guess Enjolras wants a hug, too?”

Grantaire raised his eyebrows at Enjolras, highly doubting that he seriously wanted a hug, but then Enjolras shrugged and stepped closer very, very slowly. He didn’t look quite as enthusiastic as all the other people who’d walked by and got themselves a hug from them. Far from it. He sort of looked like he wanted to walk away backwards and never come back.

Grantaire wasn’t quite sure how to go about this, so he just pointed at his _FREE HUGS_ sign. “Want one?”

Enjolras blinked owlishly – he probably hadn’t slept for more than three consecutive hours in a month. “I... yes, sure. If that’s okay?”

“I’m wearing a sign that reads _free hugs_ , which gives everyone who sees it permission to hug me free of charge,” Grantaire said with a wink. “Even you.”

Enjolras made a face. “Well, then...”

“You know, while the hugs are free, you are also under no obligation to collect your free hug now or ever.” Grantaire just somehow felt like he needed to add that, because Enjolras didn’t exactly look comfortable. “Just so you know.”

“I’m aware.”

“Okay, I’m just saying... because you look a bit freaked out.”

“I’m definitely not looking freaked out,” Enjolras said and tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “It’s just my regular face.”

“Fine, then I’ll just...” Grantaire took a step closer to him and carefully wrapped his arms around him. It occurred to him then that he’d never actually hugged Enjolras before. Earlier, when he’d hugged all those strangers, he’d never had a problem with telling when it was a good time to let go of the people he was hugging, he’d just known, but now it suddenly seemed impossible to tell.

Enjolras had put his arms around him too and because Enjolras was basically as tall as a skyscraper, Grantaire had ended up with his head resting against Enjolras’ chest, and maybe Grantaire was dying on the inside just a tiny little bit. Because Enjolras was actually a pretty decent hugger as well. And he wasn’t letting go either.

So Grantaire kept on hugging Enjolras and maybe it hadn’t actually been that long, maybe he was just imagining that they’d been standing here like this for at least a minute. When Enjolras finally pulled away, it actually seemed pretty abrupt.

“I have to go to the library,” Enjolras said and tugged at his shirt. “Thank you, that was nice.”

He might as well have said something like _it was nice doing business with you_. Grantaire grinned. “You’re welcome,” he said because he really couldn’t think of anything witty right now.

Well, the small smile he got from Enjolras in return was worth all the dying on the inside, it really was adorable. And Enjolras certainly wasn’t a person that people would usually call adorable. He was always so serious, but he did have those moments when he smiled about something ridiculous that Courfeyrac said, or when he got that proud look on his face when Feuilly made an especially good suggestion at one of their meetings, when he was about to pass out from exhaustion but insisted that he needed to keep going and eventually fell asleep right where he was sitting or, on occasion, standing.

“I’ll see you two later, or... at the meeting next week,” Enjolras said, walking away from them backwards, only barely missing a trashcan. He smiled again and then turned around, quickly walking away.

“Don’t worry,” Bahorel said once Enjolras was out of earshot, “I took pictures.”

Grantaire rolled his eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t send them to anyone.”

“I’d never,” Bahorel said cheerfully, which basically translated as _all our friends have received those pictures and will probably use them against you in the near future_.

“Great,” Grantaire muttered.

It didn’t take him too long to forget about the awkward encounter with Enjolras – a whole lecture hall of stressed-out students came pouring out of the building they were standing next to and they quickly had people gathering around them to get themselves a hug.

When they’d all dispersed, Grantaire and Bahorel went across the street to the Musain to get a sandwich each and Jehan even gave them a discount in exchange for a hug. Grantaire made a point in stuffing way too much money into Jehan’s tip jar afterwards.

“Maybe I should get this printed on a shirt,” Bahorel said once they were back in the campus square, sitting on a bench, devouring their sandwiches. “To let people know that I’m totally down with hugging them whenever they want me to.”

Grantaire laughed. “I’ll get you one.”

Bahorel blew him a kiss and then stood up, pulling Grantaire to his feet with him. “Ready for the next round?”

“Totally,” Grantaire said and looked around to see if there was anyone around, his eyes falling on Enjolras, who seemed to be on the way back from the library.

Enjolras slowed his steps when he got closer to them and waved at them. “Still at it?”

“Of course,” Bahorel said and gave Enjolras what looked like a bone-crushing hug. “What about you?

“I have an appointment with one of my teachers,” Enjolras said, eyes darting over to Grantaire. “It’s about an essay I handed in the other day.”

“Did you insinuate that overthrowing the government is the only way to go again?”

“No...” Enjolras sighed. “It’s just general feedback.”

“Well, then get yourself a hug from Grantaire for good luck,” Bahorel said and gently pushed him back into Grantaire’s arms.

This time their hug wasn’t as awkward and not as long, but Enjolras was laughing when he wrapped his arms around Grantaire. Enjolras thanked him again once he’d let go of him, smiling sheepishly before he walked away.

“He’s so...” Grantaire shook his head, not sure what word exactly he was looking for.

“Beautiful?” Bahorel suggested. “Majestic? Ethereal?”

“Polite,” Grantaire said. That was the word he’d been looking for. Enjolras wasn’t always that nice to him. Well, he’d been trying recently – Grantaire had a feeling that Combeferre might have something to do with that – but that comment about overthrowing governments would have usually earned him at least some sort of exasperated comment. Maybe also an eye-roll. “He said thank you.”

“A lot of people said thank you.”

“Yeah, but...” Grantaire shook his head, already distracted by Joly who came running towards them and practically jumped on him, grumbling something about how much he hated the library before he slinked off towards the bus stop, but not without getting a big bear hug from Bahorel first.

And for some reason, not more than thirty minutes later, Enjolras walked past them again. “Are the hugs still free when you come by for the third time?”

“Nope, you actually have to pay for the third one,” Grantaire said with a wink. “What are you doing back here?”

Enjolras shrugged. “Oh, I forgot something.”

“In the library?”

“Yeah, no, there’s just... a thing.” Enjolras smiled nervously and then gave him a very quick hug. “See you,” he said and rushed off, past the library, then he was out of sight.

“Aw, he didn’t say thank you this time,” Grantaire said, shaking his head. He was wondering what Enjolras had forgotten, because Enjolras didn’t forget things, he just didn’t. Maybe it was the exams that were getting to him.

Enjolras came back no fifteen minutes later, now hugging Grantaire without even hesitating. “I’m getting myself a coffee at the Musain, do you two want anything?” He’d pulled away, but his hand was still lingering on Grantaire’s upper arm. And Grantaire was still dying on the inside, just a little more with every second that Enjolras didn’t move his hand.

“Nah, we’re fine,” Bahorel said, raising his eyebrows at Grantaire.

“Yeah, we’re just waiting for Courfeyrac and then we’ll call it a day,” Grantaire said. “It’s his fault that we’re here anyway.”

“Right, he’s done at three,” Enjolras muttered and finally moved his hand so he could check his watch. “Maybe I’ll make it back in time, but I really need a huge cup of coffee now. So, if I don’t... um, bye.”

“Bye,” Bahorel said and ruffled his hair.

“Bye,” Grantaire said, huffing out a laugh when Enjolras hugged him again. “I know, I know, I’m really good at this.”

“You are,” Enjolras said, in that serious tone that allowed no arguing. “Say hi to Courfeyrac from me.”

“Sure thing,” Grantaire mumbled, managing an awkward wave when Enjolras turned to leave. He sort of felt like he needed to sit down and also have five drinks and maybe also run a mile and definitely avoid Enjolras forever because all he’d ever be able to think about when he saw him was that Enjolras thought he was a good hugger.

Bahorel reached out and for a second Grantaire thought he was going to pinch his cheek, but it just ended up being a playful shove. “When’re you getting married?”

Grantaire only scoffed, hoping Courfeyrac would hurry up so he could go home and try to forget how much he wanted to hug Enjolras again. And not just one of those halfway things, but like the first time Enjolras had come by. One of those hugs that lasted an awkwardly long amount of time but was still nothing short of perfect.

“Oh, there he is,” Bahorel said, waving at Courfeyrac who came bounding down the stairs, arms thrown in the air.

“What are you two doing, oh my god,” Courfeyrac shouted as he jumped into Bahorel’s arms with a screech. “I love you so much.”

“Well, Grantaire told me you were demanding hugs.”

“Grantaire,” Courfeyrac said and let go of Bahorel to hug Grantaire instead, “you’re the best. Did you also bring me cake?”

“You didn’t say anything about cake.” Grantaire squeezed him tightly. “But we can get you some right now.”

“Yeah, I think we deserve some cake, too.”

Grantaire nodded. “We’ve been very busy today.”

“Can we go to the Musain, maybe they still have some of that amazing chocolate cake.”

“Yeah, and maybe we’ll see–”

“Enjolras,” Bahorel interrupted.

Enjolras was coming their way again, _skipping_ towards them and wrapping his arms around Courfeyrac. “You made it.”

“I did,” Courfeyrac said, bouncing up and down happily. “Finally.”

“Now you can stop eating all my food because you have time to go to the grocery store by yourself,” Enjolras said and poked Courfeyrac in the ribs.

Courfeyrac sighed. “I’ll buy you an apology cake, how does that sound?”

“That better be an entire cake.”

“Okay, free cake for you and also free cake for Bahorel and Grantaire in exchange for the free hugs.”

“I like the sound of that,” Bahorel said and picked up Courfeyrac, swiftly carrying him towards the Musain. He looked over his shoulder at Grantaire and Enjolras. “At least try to keep up.”

Grantaire snorted. “Someone’s excited for that cake. So, did you get coffee?”

Enjolras looked surprised for a second. “I... Yes, I mean, no, I ran into Jehan, he was on his way home and I... well, I came back here. Because of Courfeyrac.” He shrugged. “Anyway, this free hugs thing... it was really nice of you to do that. I’m pretty sure that Courfeyrac wasn’t the only one who needed a hug today.”

“Really, you think it was a good idea?”

“Of course,” Enjolras said. “You were helping stressed-out people. Maybe we should organize something. You know, with the whole group.”

Grantaire frowned. “Seriously?”

“Why not?”

“You really...” Grantaire laughed. “You think something I did was a good idea.”

“I do, yes.”

“Oh my god, I need a minute to wrap my head around that. Or maybe a week. Or a year. Or maybe even–”

“Oh, stop it,” Enjolras said and tried to cover Grantaire’s mouth with his hand. “This wasn’t one of your usual obnoxious ideas.”

Grantaire pulled Enjolras hand out of the way. “Actually it was Bahorel’s idea.”

Enjolras smiled. “Well, that explains a lot.”

“I’m so hurt right now,” Grantaire said dryly. To be honest, this was actually one of their most pleasant conversations. “But yeah, I guess it’d be nice if we organized something with the whole group. I was gonna make Bahorel a t-shirt anyway, I guess I can just get a few more for everyone else.”

“Sounds lovely,” Enjolras said. He huffed. “Don’t look at me like that, it’s unsettling.”

“Well, now you know how I feel when you’re being so... nice.”

Enjolras only shrugged and stopped at the traffic light. Courfeyrac and Bahorel had already made it across the street and were taking a seat at one of the tables behind the window, waving at them. Grantaire waved back at them; Enjolras was tapping his foot impatiently.

“We should have coffee,” Enjolras eventually said, still staring straight ahead.

“We are,” Grantaire muttered. “Well, if that light ever changes.”

“No, I mean some other time. We should have coffee together.”

“To... talk about the t-shirts?”

“We can also talk about other things.”

“Other things.”

“Yes.” Enjolras turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in question. “What do you think?”

“I...” Enjolras wanted to have coffee with him. Just him. Grantaire really wasn’t sure what to think. Maybe all those hugs had actually killed him and he’d gone to heaven.

The light changed, but Enjolras didn’t move. “You can say no if you don’t want to.”

“No,” Grantaire said immediately. As surprised as he was, he definitely did want to. “I mean, yes. I don’t want to say no.”

Enjolras smiled. “Alright then,” he said and quickly tugged him across the street.

**Author's Note:**

> I also have a [writing blog](http://musains.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
